Fund of hedge fund managers outperform a wider range of key pooled funds
LONDON, September 16, 2008 – Statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Servicing show that results for pooled fund of hedge fund managers in the second quarter of 2008 were back in positive territory, with the median fund returning 2.4%. This compared with -4.0% for the previous quarter.
During Q2 2008, the BNY Mellon Asset Servicing universe of pooled fund of hedge funds outperformed other key pooled funds, including UK Equity (-1.1%) and Overseas Equity pooled funds (-1.5%). They also outperformed both UK (-2.7) and Overseas Bond (-4.2%) pooled funds, as well as Index-Linked Gilt (0.9%) and Cash (1.3%) pooled fund managers.
Some negative results in earlier quarters meant that over a one year period to 30 June 2008, pooled fund of hedge funds returned -0.7%. Despite failing to achieve positive returns, these funds did achieve a significant outperformance against key investment sectors like UK and Overseas Equity pooled funds which returned -13.3% and -8.7% respectively.
They were, however, outperformed by both UK (1.4%) and Overseas Bond (16.4%) pooled fund managers over this period.
Pooled fund of hedge funds fared better over the medium term and over a three-year period the median fund returned 8.5% p.a. Over this period, these funds outperformed both UK and Overseas Equity pooled funds by 1.8% p.a. and 1.4% p.a. respectively.
Our analysis shows that this outperformance was achieved with lower levels of volatility, as measured by the median standard deviation. The median standard deviation, which measures the volatility of returns, was 10.3% p.a. for UK Equity pooled funds and 10.8% p.a. for Overseas Equity pooled funds, compared with 5.5% p.a. for pooled fund of hedge funds.
Commenting on the results, Alan Wilcock, BNY Mellon Asset Servicing’s Performance and Risk Analytics Manager, said: “Results for pooled fund of hedge fund were generally positive in each month of Q2 2008, delivering returns closer to client expectations after the poor start to the year”.
Each quarter, BNY Mellon Asset Servicing publishes results from its pooled fund of hedge funds universe, which consists of multi-strategy funds of hedge funds. These offer a route into alternative investments for UK pension schemes and a means of generating returns, whilst reducing overall fund risk through diversification. Hedge fund strategies can be broadly classified as directional, event driven and non-directional. Directional strategies seek to forecast and exploit broad market trends, while event driven strategies seek to anticipate and exploit events such as mergers or corporate restructurings. Non-directional strategies generally seek to take advantage of pricing inefficiencies.
As at 30 June 2008, the average fund of hedge funds held 43.5% of its assets in directional strategies, 13.1% in event driven strategies, 24.0% in non-directional strategies and 19.4% in other (unspecified) strategies and cash.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing’s pooled fund of hedge funds universe currently covers 17 separate funds with over £4.1 billion in assets. This universe forms part of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing’s Pooled Pension Fund update, which covers the largest and most representative sample available to UK pension funds’ trustees.